A little bit of sauce

Barbecue lovers won't have to chase down Bill Wall Jr. and his wife Kim Wall at a local festival or concert to get the food they crave.

Their company, Bone Daddy's, plans to open a restaurant at the corner of Bay City Road and Waldo Avenue by mid-March. The building, which earlier housed a steak sandwich shop, seats about 45. The Walls plan to use the building behind it to prepare the food for their catering business. Bill hopes to add parking space for the business.

"That was pretty much a problem with the building," he said. "There never seemed to really be enough parking for that … corner. That was the demise of businesses before."

Bill, namesake of his barbecue man father, "Billy Bones," said he's been working on the menu for five years. It'll include barbecued chicken, beef and pork. Specialties will include rib and chicken combos and a sampler plate that'll include Southern-style barbecued sausage. Plans call for barbecue-pit wings and crispy wings, each with its own sauce. Burgers will be "very Southwest," with peppers, and some of the pork and beef sandwiches will have a half-pound or a pound of meat.

Bill won't forget his dad's popular coleslaw, but will add blue cheese. His smokehouse beans with sausage will be an appropriate side dish.

For dessert, there'll be one-serving pecan and sweet potato pies.

The Walls' reputation precedes them. Barbecue has been Bill's living for 20 years, often taking him and Kim to competitions and big events around the country, not to mention Bay City's Pig Gig.

Bill describes the look of the restaurant as retro barbecue decor. It'll have a 1940s theme, with big-band music and pictures of pin-up girls that GIs would stick on the insides of their lockers. The Walls have some old collectible antique pedal cars, and they might go inside the eatery, too.

"We're trying not to go with the usual garbage-along-the-wall theme," he said. "We've got a ton of ideas."

On the Web: bonedaddysbbq.com.

Reporter Cheryl Wade can be reached at cwade@mdn.net or (989) 839-4272.